Price

They're not Giant killers even post-mod, but they are musical

For well under $100 delivered/pair these shielded speakers are a great value. If one is willing to put some effort in they can even sound surprisingly good. Mine have about 100 hours of break-in so far. I removed the 8 inch drivers, put rope caulk on the back of the basket and where the magnet joins the basket, glued felt on the front "legs" of the basket, and put four light coats of damar on the cones. I also drilled a hole behind this driver and put a threaded "plate" inside the cabinet and another plate on the back of the magnet and use a bolt to provide more rigidity for the cheap stamped basket. I didn't seal the driver back in because I may upgrade the crossover components and re-wire to by-pass the spring cup and just go straight wire from crossover to amplifier. They sounded good for the price before, but now sound decent at any price.

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Triangle, Energy, home-brew Fostex

clarity price solid construction 5 year warranty rubber surrounds on cone

A bit heavy and awkward for stands

These speakers are a great addition to any home theater system. After giving a listen to offerings at Best Buy from Sony, Cerwin Vega, and Yamaha, these JBLs won hands down. Right out of the box, I was impressed with their construction,clarity, and tonal color. Now is a great time to get a pair of these on sale, as JBL just came out with the Northridge II series. My only minor quibble with these speakers is that they are fairly heavy and big to put on stands without some wobble.

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Various Sony speakers

Great price, good upper and mid-range tones. Nice clarity.

A bit large to be categorized as bookshelf speakers, but not too big.

After coveting some Reference Series Klipsch speakers for some time and realizing that I probably would never be able to justify spending that kind of money to my wife, I finally gave in and started shopping for a more economical speaker. My brother has a pair of N26's with his HT system and was happy with them, so when I learned that JBL had come out with new Northridge models, and discovered that I could pick up a pair of the old N28's for a song on e-bay, I had to give them a try. I prefer bright speakers and while these don't compare to the Klipsch or Boston Acoustics that I am so fond of, they aren't bad. The upper and mid-range sounds are fairly impressive. I have them paired with a DCM 10" powered sub, Northridge N-Center, & BIC DV32-B surrounds, all powered by a Yamaha AV RX-V420 receiver. I feel that for the money, I have a pair of quality speakers manufactured by a reputable company that will stand behind their product.

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Pioneer

High quality low price, transparent soundstageing, good mids and highs

Big, not a lot of bass

I recently received these speakers and am using them as my rear surrounds. My system is as follows: ND310 mains, Polk R1 surrounds, N28 rear surrounds, JBL S-Center II, JBL PB10 sub, Denon AVR-3802 and Denon DVM-1800. The best thing I can say about the N28's is that I can't find anything bad to say about them other than their size (they're big 'uns!) They have performed very well. The base isn't an issue to me because I have a powered subwoofer. These speakers fit in tonally with my other speakers so well that I don't even notice them. If I turn down the rear surrounds I can immediately notice the fact that they are gone, but when I turn them back up I can't pinpoint where the "extra" sound is coming from. That's good, it means they have a nice, transparent sound field that envelopes rather than attacks. A good buy for the money if you are looking for JBL speakers. These are plenty big enough to be mains, but you should get a powered sub with them, the bass is not great on its own.

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Ancient Sony floorstanding speakers that smoked pole.

Nice crisp sound. Plenty of power. Decent bass.

Bass is only "decent". If you want more, get a sub.

Wow, if you noticed the price I paid, you''d see I got a killer deal on these speakers. They were being sold brand new, from Harman Audio (JBL''s parent company). These are not the "II" series, or second revision. Anyway, these speakers are great, the sound is crisp and the bass is good. I know others have complained about the bass levels and I was about to as well, but then I put a cd in my DVD player which connects to my receiver via a toslink cable (vs. analog L and R rca cables from the CD player). So when I played a CD in the DVD player, the bass came alive on the N28''s. I''m definately buying a toslink cable for my CD player. If the bass still isn''t enough for you, get a subwoofer. The cabinets of the N28''s are mammoth compared to the old mains I had, but I knew what I was getting into. These speakers have binding posts in the back and I''ll be putting banana plugs onto my speaker wire soon. However, putting bare wire in the posts work just as well. The N28''s are one of those speakers that look awesome with their covers off, I just prefer to keep them on because they''re very close to my TV and I hate cleaning :) I have JBL N24''s mounted on my walls in the rear and they complement the 28''s well. My next item to buy is the N-Center (I have a center that will work for now). If you find these for the same deal I did on ebay, especially if being sold by Harman Audio, go for it, definately.

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Cheapo Jensen speakers, Bose, JBL N24, Aiwa.

great highs and mids

somewhat lacking on the bass

I have these as my surrounds and to me, they are perfect. As for the reviews that bashed them for lack of bass, this is somewhat true, but they were using the N28s as mains. If you''re looking at using bookshelf speakers as mains, go for the S38s. Those are quite excellent. As for surround speakers, the N28s provide excellent depth of sound...and they sure are pretty up there on that back wall. My system consists of: Mains: JBL ND310 Center: JBL S-center Surrounds: JBL N28 Receiver: Onkyo TXDS595x

Every sound above deep bass these speakers represent perfectly.

NO BASS! But if these 8" were tunned to bass instead of midrange these spkrs would have sounded terrible

I must warn people these speakers are for people that already have a powered sub. I actualy prefer the bass being routed to my PB10, it allows me to adjust the bass easier than if it was on the speaker. These speakers are better than the N38 in my oppinion. The midrange on the N28 is louder and clearer than the N38s simply beacuse of the bigger driver. These speakers rock! But, at there highest volume level the tweeter almost becomes to bright and overpowers the rest of the audio spectrum. But, you only notice that if you are a guy who likes his ears to bleed. I would recomend these to anybody who already has a sub!

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N38 JVC Mini System (MX-J56) N-Center

Vivid detail on movies

Poor bass

I''ve begun upgrading my home theater these were my first step. I''ve listened to quite a few speakers recently and if I had the money (and a bigger place) I''d go with Klipsch, BUT for average use these are a pretty amazing upgrade for a budget. I previously has a "home theater in a box" and it ws ok, but once I connected these up I''m hearing things I''ve never heard before. Ex. In "Gladiator" on the opening battle scene I can hear the saddles creaking while the calvary is waiting for the orders; on the boat fight scene in "Kiss of the Dragon" I can now hear the waves lap in crisp detail. Sound pretty good for music as well. Definitely need a sub for impact bass though.

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Bose, pioneer

Good efficiency at 90-91DB. Clear sound, good high range. Classic looks, price

Bass can be better, size can be smaller

It has pretty good high sounds. Bass is weak, but that can be overcome by a subwoofer. It offers a very clear sound and good efficiency with the speaker at rated at 90-91DB. The speaker has a contemporary very classic design and its price is very inexpensive too. Overall, a good valued speaker to its quality.

cheap

treble

I was looking for a cheap speaker under $ 200 with good quality, everything else in this price range sounds terrible. I found JBL sounds best among speakers < $ 200. Of course there're many speakers that are better than N26, but they also much more costlier too.